


Lily Evans proves she’s a prankster

by Maybeitsbetter993



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Remus Lupin, Bisexual Sirius Black, Black James Potter, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hogwarts Sixth Year, James Potter is a Good Friend, Lily Evans Potter Bashing, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Multi, Prank Wars, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25800418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maybeitsbetter993/pseuds/Maybeitsbetter993
Summary: Lily Evans is determined to become head girl next year, but at the moment she’s even more determined to prove to James Potter and the Marauders that she can beat them in a prank war without getting caught once.Featuring some OCs and a slightly AU vibe (This story pushes the events of the Harry Potter books flashback a year back so that the flashback takes place in their fifth year, and this story in the sixth), this is a slow burn romance surrounding the marauders and Lily’s friendship group as well.
Relationships: Lily - Relationship
Kudos: 3





	1. The Bet

Chapter One  
Lily Evans prided herself on being an utterly respectable girl. She’d spent the last five years solidifying that reputation as well, something which had been difficult thanks to the constant badgering and pranking by one James Potter and his friends- Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. From day one, Lily was determined to make something of herself in the strange, magical world she’d been introduced to, and she wouldn’t let some immature boys stop her from getting there. As soon as Lily entered the gates of Hogwarts, she was sure that someday she’d be head girl.   
She’d boarded the Hogwarts Express the morning of her first day of sixth year with a flurry of shouting girls around her. It seemed odd to some, that the sensible Lily Evans would hang out with such a loud bunch of girls, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Lily made up for her own sensibility by watching her friends mess around- while she was already studying for her OWLs at the end of the holidays, they were staying out late in Diagon Alley and having pillow fights in her room at the inn. Sure, sometimes she craved to be a part of their fun; to run up and down the streets after Millie’s cat, or to stuff their faces with pumpkin pie and Lucinda’s mother’s fudge in the evenings, but she only needed to remind herself of her goals to get back on track. Besides, it wasn’t like they were as troublesome as those silly ‘Marauders’, as they called themselves. The girls listened when Lily asked them to stop, and they were far better at being kind when things would become stressful. And they showered on a regular basis. 

The ride to Hogwarts was usually quite enjoyable. Lily put down her books and enjoyed herself while there weren’t any teachers around, and her friends bought treats from the trolley. For five years, it had been perfectly lovely to watch the moors roll past, and to chat about how lovely it would be to see everyone again. So when a certain band of four boys opened the door, Lily was less than pleased. She looked around, expecting the same annoyed expressions on her friends’ faces, but all she saw were giggles and decidedly flirtatious smiles, which wasn’t so good in her opinion.   
“Lovely to see you all again, ladies.” James Potter smirked, and winked at Marlene, who burst into another fit of high-pitched giggles, while Millie twisted a strand of her shiny brown hair around her pinkie. Lily frowned and pressed her lips together tightly. Why was everyone suddenly being so nice? Their groups had been enemies- well, sort of- from the beginning. “We were wondering if we might have a chat with Ms Evans? It’s incredibly important.” Sirius said, slinging an arm over James’ shoulder and smiling lazily. It was common knowledge that Lily and James were, in a way, the leaders of their groups, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to ask for one another when insulting the entire group at once, or leaving messages to be relayed.   
“I don’t-” Lily began, but was cut off by a kick to the shin from her closest friend, Amy Quick.   
“If you don’t go, I won’t buy you any chocolate frogs.” She threatened.   
Lily opened her mouth indignantly- the frogs had been promised as compensation for the few that Amy had stolen while she’d stayed with Lily during the summer. Amy flicked up her eyebrows and looked pointedly at the door, where the crowd of four boys were waiting expectantly.   
“There’d better be an absolute plethora of chocolate waiting on my seat when I get back.” Lily whisper-shouted, then stood up and pretended to smile at the boys. “Well, what do you want?”   
“Not here.” James chided, as if the very thought of it was ridiculous. “Come on.”   
Lily shot a glower at Amy and followed them down the corridor a bit, then into their own carriage where they all sat down on one side, obviously wanting Lily on the other. She scoffed at the sight of them all squeezed in- they looked so stupid- then sat down and smoothed out her skirt.   
“Well?” She said, crossing her arms. “There isn’t very much time left, and none of you are changed.” This was only half-true. All the boys but James were wearing school shirts and ties, although Sirius had paired his with a leather jacket. Remus was wearing the school cardigan, noted Lily with approval, and while Peter’s shirt (despite being several sizes too small around his waist) did sort of fit in with the dress-code; his trousers were fraying down the side. James, on the other hand, was wearing a white polo t-shirt and jeans, with those expensive sneakers he’d been showing off since Christmas last year. They were much more battered now, though.   
“You’ll remember that at the end of fifth year your girls somehow succeeded in pulling the final prank, despite ours being of a way higher quality year-round?” Sirius said seriously.  
“I remember.” Lily said coolly. Despite her warning that they’d face the consequences (and they certainly did), Marlene and Lucinda had decided to hide the boys’ trunks in the owlery just as everyone was packing the Hogwarts Express, leading to a very stressed professor and some extremely moody teenage boys on the way back. Lily never partook in the physical part of pranks herself, but she was a big part of planning some of them. She was the only girl in her group of friends who’d never been given detention  
“Well, this year we’re ramping it up.” James said. Lilly rolled her eyes and sighed, making his smug grin widen before he continued. “We’re officially declaring a prank war between the Marauders and.. What’s your group called again, Evans?”   
“It doesn’t have a name, because we’re in sixth year, Potter. The time for childish pranks has ended- do you have an ounce of worry about your OWLs?” She said severely. James gave her a lopsided smirk and shrugged.   
“I reckon I’ll be alright.” He said cheerfully. “You’d better start planning your first prank- it’s about time you got your hands dirty, don’t you think?” Lily glanced away guiltily.   
“Come on, Lily. It’s just a bit of fun.” Remus said, surprising her. She’d always thought of him as the sensible one- although perhaps that wasn’t saying much. She shook her head firmly, making her red ponytail hit her cheeks on either side.  
“There’s a reason I don’t take part in these childish games,” She said, but couldn’t start her next sentence over the loud snorts that came from the boys.   
“You think we’d believe that?” Sirius laughed. “Everyone knows you’re the mastermind behind the best ones.” Lily flushed slightly at this; she wasn’t used to getting recognition for her work.   
“That’s ridiculous.” She said, after a not-so-convincing pause.   
“It is, I agree.” James smiled. “We all know that Marlene was praised for weeks after that stunt she pulled with the baby-clothing transfiguration of our uniforms, but Pete heard you teaching her that very same spell in the library the previous night!” He stood up and pointed an accusatory finger at Lily. “I’ve made it my mission this year to get you caught, Evans, if it’s the last thing I do!”   
Lily thought hard. On one hand, it would be fantastic to prove to Potter that she was better at pranks than he’d ever be while also scoring the top grades in her classes. On the other, she was only a year away from becoming head girl (hopefully), and one misstep could rule her out of the competition. Still, Lily considered all the pranks that her friends had taken credit for, and how many of them she’d actually quite enjoyed orchestrating. She’d told herself that she wasn’t actually taking part in them; it was her friends’ decision to do a prank, and she was a sensible girl. And seeing James’ smug face every time he could carry out his own pranks so they were perfectly executed had become quite difficult. Lily stood up so that she was equal to James and crossed her arms again. He must’ve grown over the summer; the height difference hadn’t been this prominent before.   
“So?” He smirked.   
“Alright Potter, it’s a deal. But there needs to be something in it for me.” The boys could hardly contain their excitement, hi-fiving one another like idiots. “Uh, hello? You haven’t heard my condition yet.” Lily interrupted their whoops.   
“Right. That.” Sirius pushed a beaming James back to face her as the sun came out from behind a cloud, and Lily was caught off-guard by how nice he looked, smiling like that. She quickly focused and cleared her throat.   
“If, by the end of the year, I haven’t been caught a single time, you and your band of merry men have to wear girls uniforms for the final dinner in the great hall.” She decided.   
“Now, hang on-” Sirius began, but was silenced by a look from James.   
“Fine. And when I win,” Lily scowled, “And you do inevitably get caught, you and your friends are going to stand on your seats at that very same feast and shout- er, have any ideas, boys?” James turned to his friends, two of whom immediately started shouting any number of ideas, while Lily slumped back into her seat. Remus was the only one who didn’t, waiting until James pointed at him in desperation after a particularly crude one from Sirius. “Moony, it’s up to you.” James said.  
“What about an endorsement?” He suggested. Lily and James both looked at him quizzically. Remus sighed and looked at James patiently. “I don’t suppose you remember, but last year you were rather set on becoming head boy.” Lily’s mouth fell open, and she made a choking noise.   
“You? Head boy? Why on earth would you want to be head boy?” She almost shouted, watching James’ ears turn slightly pink.  
“I know why!” Sirius volunteered gleefully, putting his hand up. “Prongsy here-”  
“Shut up, Sirius.” James said loudly, glaring at his friend. Lily furrowed her eyebrows, completely bemused by this exchange and horrified at the thought of being head girl next to a buffoon like Potter.   
“I will most certainly not be endorsing you of all people as head boy, Potter.” She said unwisely, then realised her mistake. James’ expression changed from one of irritation at Sirius to mischief. “No.” Lily said. “No, no, absolutely not.”   
“Thanks for that wonderful suggestion, Moony.” James smiled, not taking his eyes off Lily’s. “When I win this bet, you and your friends will all stand on your seats and say, ‘We hereby endorse James Potter as head boy of Hogwarts for the coming school year’.” Lily bunched her hands into fists. “And make it loud, will you? I really want Professor Dumbledore to get the message.”   
At the mention of the headmaster, Lily’s mind was made up: she would do whatever it took to win this bet and make James Potter pay for all the time she’d spent doing extra credit work instead of pranking him properly. “Is that it, Potter?” She asked, as if this was nothing. James saw right through her carefree facade and nodded happily. “Fine. Ground rules?”   
“You have to participate in all the pranks.” James said quickly. She nodded and took a mental note.  
“No giving up the challenge just because you’re losing.” Sirius said. Lily scoffed.  
“Okay. No compromising the other team’s schoolwork. This year is important.” She said in her most precise voice to make it very clear.   
“Every year is important, for you.” James said, raising his eyebrows. “Another rule: don’t do anything that can lose us a quidditch match. That means no messing with my broom- tell that to Quick.” He said, gesturing in the general direction of Lily’s carriage.   
“You can’t seriously think that we’d put your life in danger. We're smarter than that.” Lily defended, pressing her lips together when James shrugged. “Also, you need to stop being mean to Severus.”   
“Why? Snivellus has nothing to do with this bet.” Sirius interjected. Lily frowned at him.   
“He does if you want there to be a bet at all. We haven’t shaken on it.” She said.   
James looked confused. “I didn’t realise the two of you were still friends after he called you a-”  
“We aren't.” Lily cut him off, louder than she meant to. That wasn’t a memory she wanted to think of.   
“Fine. We leave Snape alone. Anything else?” James asked. When Lily shook her head, he held out his hand. “It’s a deal then, Evans.”   
Lily hesitated for a second, then put her hand in his. It was warmer than she expected, and she could feel the calluses from a summer of quidditch practice on his hand, which practically dwarfed hers. They shook once- up, down, then she let go, looking up into James’ light brown face. She’d never noticed how dark his eyes were before, or the tiny freckles dotted across his nose. It was only half a second, but it felt like a long time before Lily realised she was staring at him (he was staring back, to be fair) and broke it. She stepped backwards and tightened her ponytail, then resumed looking smug.   
“Get ready to lose.” She said, then spun around and left the compartment. 

After briefing her friends on the bet, and consuming all of the eight chocolate frogs that Amy had bought for her, Lily stepped off the Express and headed towards the carriages, where she sat next to Marlene and Millie and watched the Marauders board one a bit further away.   
“I bet they’ve already planned their first prank.” She said through the blanket she and Millie were sitting under. Although it was only early Autumn, the cool air gave her goosebumps.   
“So? It can’t be very good, they’ve only had a train ride.” Lucinda said from the other side of the carriage, distracted by something out the window. When Lily looked, all she saw were Elijah Fawkes and Tom Hills- two seventh-year Hufflepuff boys- standing in line for a carriage.   
“Sirius stayed with Potter the entire summer.” Amy contradicted, rubbing her hands together and breathing on them. “Xenophilius told me that.”   
“How does Lovegood know that- and why’d he tell you?” Millie laughed. “That boy is so weird.”   
Amy frowned. “The Lovegoods are family friends of ours. He’s only a year older than me, so we hung out.” Lily had heard all about the disastrous birthday party that had led to Amy coming to stay at her house for the remaining three weeks of summer. “He’s not that bad, Mills.”   
“I know, I know.” Millie replied, although she seemed unconvinced. “Anyway, Lily, what's the plan? We’ve got to make it really good- a huge kick-off to what will surely be a victorious year for us girls.” She asked excitedly as the carriage began to move.  
Lily grinned, finally able to reveal what she’d been thinking since she ate the first chocolate frog on the train. “Pettigrew just bought himself a pet toad. I saw it on the train- it’s not a very unique little thing. It’ll be quite easy, in fact, to find plenty more just like it down at the lake.”   
“So?” Marlene asked.   
“So, Pettigrew isn’t the brightest bulb in the box. If we start slipping a toad into his pocket, or his bag, or onto his desk, he’ll just think it’s his own that’s stowed away and he’ll take it up to the dorm room. It’s bound to happen at least five times before he catches on, and I know a really fantastic eventual growing charm. If I place it on every toad before we drop it off, they’ll grow to the size of cats by dinnertime.” By this point, all Lily’s friends were smiling and nodding. Amy reached over and clapped her shoulder.  
“You’ve done it again, Lils!” She said. “It’s the perfect thing to start us off- while they try to figure out how to get cat-sized toads out of the boy’s dormitory, we can decide on our next move.”   
“It’s great, really, but what if we get caught? I had way too many detentions last year- McGonagall said that she’d started reserving a spot for me every week to save time.” Marlene said. “I cant keep being in charge of carrying out this stuff anymore. Mum says that my grades need to improve.”   
“Don’t worry about it, Marlene.” Lily said. “This year, I’m going to be helping with handling that aspect as well. Like I said, Potter bet that I couldn’t make it through without getting caught, and that means I have to participate in the pranks themselves.”   
“Are you sure, Lily? That’s never been your style before.” Lucinda teased, focusing up again.  
“And it won’t be... next year. But this is important. I haven’t properly let loose in all my years at Hogwarts- and I’m already on top of the work for this term. I’ll be alright.” Lily said, with more confidence than she felt. In truth, she was afraid that her school performance would slip, and she’d be out of consideration for head girl. She’d observed over the years that head students tended to be pure or half-bloods; she’d supposed that it was because they knew more about wizarding history, but then this year Louisa Myrtle was chosen and Lily knew for a fact that she’d been skipping history class for three years running to snog Peverence Pulid in the broom cupboards on the seventh floor. So Lily realised that sometimes, just knowing things wasn’t enough. If the Slytherin families were to continue sending their children to Hogwarts, they’d want good family names representing the school. Evans was not one of them, which meant that Lily had to try doubly as hard as her classmates to be considered for the role.   
“Hello, Lily!” Amy waved a hand in front of Lily’s face to grab her attention. “Is something bothering you?”   
“Uh- no! Not at all. Just daydreaming about the look on Peter Pettigrew’s face when he realises that he was caught by our first prank!” She pulled herself out of troubling thoughts and tried her best to smile.   
“It’s a marvellous plan Lily, but let’s not forget that this is our first night back at school! Enjoy the peace while you can.” Lucinda said. “Merlin knows that those boys will wreak havoc on the rest of our year.” She didn’t look too unhappy about it, though.   
“I wonder if they’ll have pavlovas.” Marlene wondered. “I do love a good pavlova.” Millie giggled and said something under her breath which nobody really caught, but Lily saw her expression and knew that it wasn’t kind. Millie was usually a nice girl, but she and Marlene had never been very close. Something about an essay in third year- nothing to really hold a grudge over, but there’d never been a proper conversation about it either.   
“So do I.” Lily agreed, breaking the slightly awkward silence. “Especially when they cover it in berries- I wonder if they’ll have that delicious lingonberry jam in the mornings this year.”   
“Merlin, I’d forgotten about that! You used to get up early just to help yourself to the biggest serving possible!” Any laughed, and the tension broke. The girls spent the rest of the ride joking and laughing, and sharing ideas for possible pranks they’d play over the year.

The Great Hall was, as always, decorated vibrantly for the first dinner of the year. Lily and her friends took a seat towards the back of the Gryffindor table, where they were greeted by a couple of fifth-years who Marlene knew from the quidditch team.   
To Lily’s dismay and her friends’ utmost elation, the four boys decided to sit down right next to the group, wedging themselves in between the girls. Lily wrinkled her nose and tutted and James Potter himself squeezed between her and Amy, although the latter seemed to be more focused on telling Remus Lupin all about how her cat was pregnant and due very soon, if he’d like a kitten.   
Lily stared resolutely at her empty plate all throughout Dumbledore’s speech, and sang the school song half-heartedly while the boys belted it out in an opera quartet. She managed to ignore James’ idiotic grin until the first course appeared, when he didn’t take anything.  
“You’re not hungry, Potter?” She commented, heaping some mashed potatoes onto her plate.   
“I am hungry-“ He began. She turned to him and pursed her lips, waiting for the punchline. She didn’t have to wait long.   
“...For prank wars!” Sirius finished James’ sentence and they high-fived without looking. Lily rolled her eyes and poured gravy onto her plate.   
“You’re so immature.” She muttered. “That’s got to be one of your cheesiest jokes yet.” Potter smiled widely.   
“You think so? I’m really aiming high this year.”   
“In what? Not in classes, that’s for sure… how many were you failing, again?” Lily didn’t know that James was failing: she had no idea what kind of marks he received, but she guessed that they weren’t very good.  
To her surprise, the boy looked offended, putting a hand to his chest and gasping.   
“I’m not failing any- you take that back!” By this time, Lily realised that he wasn’t actually offended and was simply being dramatic. She heaped some peas into her plate and looked annoyed. “Actually, I’m getting rather fantastic marks, Evans.” James boasted. “And I don’t even need to try. How many hours is it that you spend studying in a day?” Lily glared at him.   
“That’s none of your business.” She said. She hated the thought that she had to work hard to reach the same level that James Potter was already on.   
“No, I suppose you’re right,” James sighed and absent-mindedly scooped some of Lily’s mashed potato off her plate and into his mouth. She gaped at him indignantly, but he went on as if it was nothing unusual. “Although it would help to know when we can expect you to be absent from your dormitory. Your friends, too.” He took another scoop of potato and Lily jerked her plate away from him.   
“Stop that!” She ordered. “And besides, you can’t even get up to my dorm in the first place- don’t pretend you’ve never tried.”   
“I won’t go into your dorm, Evans.” James held up his hands in defence. “You wouldn’t expect something so invasive of a respectable lad like myself, would you?”   
Lily narrowed her eyes at his earnest expression.  
“What’re you planning, Potter?” She asked suspiciously. James grinned and stuck a piece of chicken in his mouth.   
“Now, where on earth did you get the impression that I was planning something?” He teased through a mouthful of food. Lily grimaced in disgust and focused on her own meal for a while, until the main course disappeared and dessert came along. 

Marlene was overjoyed to find her pavlova sitting on the table right in front of her, and was horrified to discover that Sirius had never had one before. She cut two large pieces of the meringue-y treat and put them on the plates, gushing about her mother’s wonderful recipe. Sirius listened intently; this was something Lily liked about him. Although he was rather too aware of his own good looks (like Potter, Lily supposed), he could really be quite nice sometimes. He’d never turn down a conversation about something completely random, and he never made anyone feel awkward for bringing it up.   
Lily’s favourite dessert was ice-cream and the hot fudge sauce that they put in jugs on the table. She ate at least two scoops of the stuff before she realised that James was watching her again, with an amused look on his face.  
“What?” She asked, somewhat insecurely. Lily was aware that the image of her devouring the ice-cream can’t have been exactly graceful, and felt almost self-conscious.   
James shrugged. “I was just noting that you’re a big eater. I hadn’t known before.”   
What an absurd thing to note, Lily thought, not bothering to assume that this was offensive. “Why do you care?” She asked.  
“Well, most girls would feel uncomfortable, eating in front of boys. You lot aren’t like that- well, perhaps apart from Millie.” Lily followed the line of his gaze to Millie, who was eating a single cherry, and frowned, tightening her ponytail as she spoke.  
“Don’t go getting too full of yourself there, Potter. I don’t think that any girl has refrained from eating just to please you, so don’t start running around with ideas that we exist to please you.” She said casually. “Most girls feel uncomfortable eating in front of boys because they make crude jokes about the different articles of food and their possible sexual innuendos. We don’t do everything for you lot.”   
James blinked a few times. “I didn’t know that you were a feminist, either.”  
“Now you do.” She said shortly.  
“That’s interesting.” He commented.   
Lily sighed. “And why is that interesting, Potter?” She waited for another stupid joke, but none came.  
James shrugged again and looked down at his pudding. “‘S just interesting.” He said. Lily stared at him, puzzled, then went back to her ice-cream.   
Something was off about Potter. He wasn’t being nearly as mean as he usually was, and seemed intent on talking to her without any kind of unfriendly motive. It made Lily confused, although she wouldn’t let him know that. “I am, too.” He said suddenly, pulling Lily out of her thoughts.   
“You’re what?” She asked.  
“A feminist?” James looked surprisingly serious, crossing his arms and swivelling so that one leg was over either side of the bench. “Er- my parents don’t like that very much, but…” Lily watched him carefully, and his ears turned slightly pink, before his face fell back into its usual smirk. “Sirius says it’s a great way to get girls.”   
Lily scoffed and put a spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth. Of course James Potter would call himself a feminist just to get girls. There was nothing more on-brand for him. “And how’s that working out for you?” She said, after swallowing another mouthful of hot fudge.   
“Very well, actually.” James turned back to his food with a smug look on his face. “I don’t suppose you know Marissa Longbeam? Fifth-year Ravenclaw, absolutely fabulous b-“  
“I know her.” Lily interrupted, unsure of what this feeling in her chest was. It put a bad taste in her mouth, and made her feel unusually irritable. “What about her?” James grinned.  
“Over the summer, she and I had a- well, a fling of sorts. I don’t know if you realise this, Evans, but I am extremely popular with the ladies at Hogwarts. Something about my natural charm, I think.” Lily scowled at her plate.   
“I wouldn’t say the same, and I am a lady at Hogwarts.” She muttered. “You’ve got to be one of the least charming boys I know.   
“Oh, don’t be jealous now, Evans.” James tutted in mock-disapproval.   
“I am not jealous of you, Potter.” Lily snapped. “I’m tired of you. I can’t imagine why any girl would be inclined to spend a minute alone with you, let alone a date.”   
James shrugged and smiled. “You’d have to come out with me to find out.” Lily paused for a moment, trying to understand what he meant, before she came to the conclusion that he was only teasing.  
“Ha-ha. That’s a good one.” She said sarcastically. “Rest assured, Potter, you and I will never go out on a date together. I have a gift- I’m completely immune to your so-called ‘charms’.” She turned back towards Lucinda and started talking without waiting for a response from James, and soon the dessert was finished and everyone was getting ready to go to bed. 

The sixth-year girls dormitory was a complete mess. First-night celebrations were beginning to die down, and Lily was lying on her wrapper-littered bed with Amy while their friends slept on most of the others.  
“Ames?” Lily said quietly, stroking Amy’s cat.   
“Yes?” Amy opened her eyes and looked at her friend inquisitively.  
“Do you think this whole ‘prank war’ is a good idea?” Lily whispered. Amy grinned and shrugged.  
“Well, there are some very good arguments against it, Lils. We’ll have much less time for schoolwork, and if we do get caught there’s a risk that you won’t get chosen for head girl next year.” Amy replied. Lily’s eyebrows knitted together. “But imagine how fantastic it’d be to prove to the boys that we can beat them in a prank war and get top marks at the same time. Can you imagine Sirius Black in a girl’s uniform?”   
The two girls laughed quietly at the mental image. “I guess you’re right. Tomorrow will you come with me to fetch some toads from down by the lake?” Lily asked, turning on her side to face Amy.  
“Of course- toad fetching’s not the kind of thing you do alone, Lily.” Amy said. “I’ll wake you up early, so we have time to do one in our first class.”   
“Perfect.” Lily said. “Thanks, Ames.” The girls closed their eyes with smiles on their faces, and were soon asleep.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily finds out that James isn't all bad, much to her dismay. The first pranks are in full swing, and a certain pair of enemies serve a detention together.

Chapter Two

It was a shockingly cold morning when Amy woke Lily up to find the toads. The two girls shivered and shook on their way downstairs, and arrived outside just as dawn began to arrive.   
The grass was slippery with the frost of the previous night, and as Amy was a clumsy girl she fell several times. Finally, they arrived down at the edge of the lake where there was a patch of thick, long grass, and saw a couple of toads already hopping around.   
“Wingardium Leviosa.” Lily said clearly, pointing her wand at each of the toads. They rose up, and she directed them into the shoebox that Amy had lined with some leaves and sticks.   
“We’re going to need more than two. Do you have any other spots to find them?” Amy asked, hopping from one foot to the other in an attempt to shake some of the chill.   
“Not really. We might have to wait a while, unfortunately.” Lily sat down on the driest patch of grass she could find, and sighed.   
Amy sat down next to her and the girls started talking about mundane things, like the upcoming quidditch season and their class selections. They were just starting to talk about how difficult charms would be this year when they heard a shout coming from up the hill at the castle.   
“Oh, bollocks!” Amy exclaimed, pulling Lily roughly over to a tree. “It’s them!”   
Lily whipped her head around and saw four boys coming down the hill, headed right towards where the girls were hiding. “Dammit!” She said in a loud whisper. “What do we do?” Lily panicked. Amy looked around the trunk and clutched the shoebox tightly.   
“I don’t know!” She said. “What do you suppose they’re doing down here at this hour?”  
“They must’ve seen us out the window. We have to get a move on, or they’ll figure it all out!” Lily poked her head around the side of the tree- or, at least, she attempted to. Amy pulled her back and soon as she started to lean forward.  
“Don’t do that! No offence, Lils, but your hair is like a huge ‘look this way’ sign. Here,” she handed Lily her hat and helped her to stuff her fiery red hair into it. “Now you’re slightly less noticeable, at least.”   
Lily adjusted the brim so that she could see, and laughed. “This all feels so silly.” She said. Amy sighed.  
“That’s because you’ve never been a part of the action before. Trust me, it only gets sillier. Do you want that gang of children to foil our first prank before it’s even started?” She said, peering around the trunk again. “Bollocks.” She said again.  
“What? What’s happening?” Lily asked.   
“Black spotted me. They’re headed this way.” She said quickly, looking around frantically. “We need to hide this box.”   
“Here.” Lily took the shoebox and stuffed it in the crevice where the branches started and the trunk ended. “I’ll collect it in my spare.”   
Amy didn’t have time to reply before Sirius Black stuck his head around the trunk and grinned. “What’re we doing at early hour, ladies?” He asked, promptly joined by the three other boys.   
“We could ask you the same thing.” Amy said, crossing her arms. Lily pulled the hat off, seeing that James was smirking at her and self-consciously flattening her hair against her head.  
“We’re on our way to see Hagrid. Peter has a question about flobberworms.” Remus explained.  
“You’ve taken an awfully long route.” Lily said nervously, painfully aware that Potter was still staring at her. What did he want? “He’s all the way around the other side of the grounds.”   
“Prongs thought he spotted you two, and we were intrigued to say the least.” Sirius leaned against the trunk of the tree. “And I can't help but notice that you still haven’t answered the question. What are you doing?” Lily and Amy exchanged a look.  
“Just an early morning walk.” “Collecting algae for potions.” They said, then both said the same swear word.   
The marauders laughed, and the girls turned red. “It looks as though you two need some time to straighten up your story.” James said. “And we have a groundskeeper to see. So, I suggest you brush up on your lying skills, and we’ll see you at recess?”   
He sauntered off without waiting for a reply, and the boys followed him, all laughing when he said something that the girls couldn’t hear.  
“He’s such a bloody prat.” Lily said frustratedly. Amy nodded in agreement, watching the boys.   
“They all are. Well, maybe apart from Remus. He’s lovely.” She said, mostly to herself. Lily looked at her friend, frowning.  
“Hold on. What?” She said. “Do you fancy Remus Lupin?” Amy went red again.  
“That’s ridiculous, Lily. Laughable, even. I can’t-“  
“Oh my god, you do!” Lily shouted. Amy shushed her loudly and started walking up the hill towards the caste again. “Amy- hang on, don’t walk away from me!” She grabbed the shoebox and scrambled up the muddy slope after her friend. 

Lily bit into her toast aggressively, glaring at James Potter, who was staring right back with a pretend-serious expression on his face. She was trying to convey every ounce of hatred that she had for him in a look, but it couldn’t be working too well because he was only smiling lazily and putting cereal in his mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows even more and breathed harshly out her nose.   
“Lily. Hello, earth to Lily Evans?” Lucinda waved her hand in front of Lily’s face. Lily snapped out of her trance and blinked. “What’re you doing?”   
“Stewing.” Lily took another bite of her toast and hummed happily. “Merlin, I’d forgotten how wonderful this jam was.”   
“Amy said you only managed to get two toads.” Lucinda said. “That’s not going to be enough to have a proper effect on them, you know.”   
“I know. Marlene and I can plant the first one in Pettigrew’s pocket this morning- we have muggle studies together.” She replied confidently. “I’ll grab a few more after class, when there aren’t any annoying ‘marauders’ there to sabotage me.” She paused to glower in their general direction, then continued. “I’ll need to finish off my homework after school, unfortunately, but if it’s in favour of getting the first prank in-“  
She was interrupted as a very distraught Millie ran up the length of the great hall and stopped at the spot where the four boys were sitting.   
“You did this to me!” She shrieked, pointing at Sirius. He swallowed a mouthful of waffle and turned, grinning up at Millie. Lily noticed that her friend was wearing some kind of scarf on her head, instead of one of her usual perfectly styled looks.   
“Oh no.” Amy said, and stood up, walking briskly down to where Millie was standing.  
“Millie, what happened?” She asked, putting an arm cautiously around her friend. Millie burst into tears, burying her face in Amy’s jumper.   
Marlene, Lucinda and Lily looked at each other worriedly, then stood as well and walked down to where the other two girls were. “What’s going on?”  
“She said she wanted to be a blonde. I simply made that wish come true. Really, you should be thanking me.” Sirius laughed. Lily gasped; Millie’s hair was her pride and joy- she spent ages brushing it every night in front of the mirror.   
“No.” Amy breathed, eyes widening.  
Millie pulled back, her face blotchy and tear-stained. “You all want to see, don’t you? You want to see what he’s done to me.”   
“Maybe if we see it, we can do damage assessment and figure out how badly we need to maim Black.” Lily said helpfully, scowling at the boy, who suddenly didn’t seem quite as pleased with himself. Millie sniffled and squeezed her eyes shut, undoing a clasp at the back of her head-scarf. It fell away, and none of the girls could contain their gasps. Millie’s once-chocolate-brown locks were a revolting shade of mustard yellow, with some olive-coloured pieces on the sides.   
“Oh, no.” Amy exclaimed, holding a hand over her mouth. Sirius snorted, setting the rest of his group off, and Millie exploded into another round of sobs, running back out of the great hall.   
“A stroke of genius, Pads!” James chortled, slapping his friend’s shoulder.   
“It was a simple hair-dying spell- I had no idea it would work so well.” Sirius replied, sticking his fork in another waffle.  
Lily was speechless. She knew that Millie would be crying for days, and they had to act quickly. The toads wouldn’t be enough; they had to carry out two pranks at once if they were going to make any kind of impression.   
“Girls, let’s go.” She said. “Millie needs our help.” The rest of the group nodded, and hissed angry words at the boys as they left the table. 

They had found Millie in the medical ward- unfortunately, Madame Pomfrey refused to excuse her from classes as a bad dye job wasn’t an injury. After many promises to find a new dying spell as soon as they could, Millie calmed down and they collected their books from the dorm, where she fastened a pink scarf around her head and put on some makeup. Amy gave some food to the toads, and the girls went their separate ways.   
Lily successfully put the growing spell on the first toad, and carried it in her pocket to muggle studies, where Marlene was able to slip it into Pettigrew’s robe without him noticing. Luckily, none of the other marauders were around to catch them, and Lily knew that Peter had a spare in the next hour, so he’d take his things back up to the dorm.   
The two girls watched with glee as Peter found the toad and mistook it for his own, muttering about how he’d have to walk up all those stairs now to put it back. They met with the others in the group (apart from Millie, who had gone straight to their dormitory) and told them of the success, then Amy brought out the second toad and promised to get it into Sirius’ bag in their divination class- hopefully he’d think that Peter’s toad had just hopped into the bag. They went past the kitchens to get hot chocolates and biscuits from some of the friendlier house-elves, then Lily and Lucinda went down to the lake and caught four more toads, much to their surprise. Before the next classes started, Lily could finish her muggle studies homework (what is one major difference between muggle and wizard fashion?), and she even had a few minutes to research dying spells for Millie, although she couldn’t find any which worked properly. 

Lily’s final class of the day was defence against the dark arts (datda), which she shared with all four of the marauders and her friends. Lily liked the class; she’d achieved an ‘outstanding’ in her OWLs, and with the rise of dark magic out in the wizarding world, she wanted to learn how to help with the cause. The problem was that Potter also liked it, and the rumours were that he’d received a perfect grade (Lily had lost one point in her theory section- the muggle world wars weren’t meant to be part of their essay).   
This year, the class was Slytherin/Gryffindor mixed, meaning that Lily had to deal with Severus’ almost-apologies, muttered under his breath before he retreated to the far side of the classroom and waited for her to follow him as she always had in the past. But Lily didn’t- not this year, and not after what he’d called her. He was still hanging out with that group of sleazeballs who practiced dark magic, and they didn’t seem to like Lily all that much anyway, so she sat stiffly in her seat and waited for her friends to arrive.   
“So, Evans,” James suddenly sat down on the edge of her desk and ran a hand through his already-tousled hair. Lily had noticed that he was doing it more and more, which also made the girls giggle louder and louder. It was incredibly annoying. “It looks like you’re my biggest competition this year.”   
Lily got out her scroll and started writing the date. “I don’t want to talk to you.” She said bluntly.   
“Is this about your friend’s hair? Come on, you can’t hold a grudge; it was only part of the bet.” He protested good-naturedly, deliberately putting a hand on her parchment so that she couldn’t keep writing. “Deep down, you know it was funny, too.”   
Lily finally looked up at him, disdain written clearly all over her face. “It was not funny.” She said. “Besides, I’ve got a much better one planned. Hair dying, Potter? Really? You couldn’t have done any better? I was disappointed, to be frank.” She mocked, struggling to find any sincerity in her words. The truth was, dying Millie’s hair was a perfect start to the bet— it was exactly the kind of thing that she’d have done if she hadn’t been so focused on the toads.   
James grinned, seeing through Lily frustratingly easily. “Don’t be bitter, now. I’m sure you’ll think of something eventually.” He reached out to pat Lily’s shoulder, but she slapped his hand away and pretended to scowl at her parchment. In reality, she was glad: Potter, in realising that she wasn’t telling the truth when she said that the prank was awful, had also disregarded what she’d said about planning another one, meaning that Lily had the element of surprise on her side.   
“Mr Potter. Is there any reason that you’re out of your seat?” A man said from behind Lily. She turned and saw their new professor standing in the aisle between rows.   
“Lily here needed my help. She’s got short-term and long-term memory loss, the poor thing, and just couldn’t remember the date for the life of her.” James improvised eagerly. Lily huffed and shoved him off her desk.   
“I do not.” She said.   
“Did I call on you to speak, Ms Evans?” The professor barked.  
“No, sir. Sorry, sir.” Lily apologised, putting her head down.   
“Didn’t think so.” He said, and walked forward. “Good afternoon, class. My name is Professor Baster,” Lily glanced at the marauders; this name was sure to spawn a whole range of offensive nicknames, “And I will be teaching this class for the year.” Baster continued. “I expect my classes to be silent at all times, unless someone is called upon by myself, in which case they will answer in full sentences without stuttering. You can’t afford to stutter when you’re casting the cruciatus curse on a death eater.” At the mention of the curse, whispers erupted all over the room. No other professor had ever even suggested that they’d use one of the forbidden curses before.   
The door to the classroom suddenly burst open, and Amy, Lucinda, Marlene and Millie all burst in, laughing about something. Even though she didn’t want to be late, Lily couldn’t help but feel the sting that they’d been hanging out without her. Professor Baster didn’t seem too pleased either, Lily noticed when she looked at him. His dark brown face seemed to turn an even darker shade, and he was shaking slightly- the girls noticed this and stopped laughing, eyes wide.   
“Good afternoon.” Amy said, looking fearful.   
“You dare to come into my classroom late, laughing like a bunch of stupid schoolgirls-“  
“With all due respect, sir, we are-“ Marlene began, but was cut off.  
“OUT!” Baster shouted, waving his wand in their direction. “COME BACK WHEN YOU’RE READY TO BE SERIOUS!” The girls didn’t need much encouragement, turning around and racing out of the room at top speed. Baster pointed his wand at the door and it slammed shut behind them, startling most of the class.   
“Temper, temper.” Lily heard Sirius whisper from a row behind her. She looked anxiously at the professor, but he’d turned around and was writing something on the chalkboard. She tried to lean over and see what he was writing, and felt something hit the back of her head.   
“Hey!” She whispered indignantly at James, who simply pointed at the scrunched-up piece of paper that he had thrown. Lily tutted to herself, then bent down and picked up the paper, unfolding it behind her desk. 

Meet me in the library after school.   
-J.P

It said, in messy handwriting. Lily frowned and stuffed it in her bag, risking a glance back at James to shake her head. He put his hands up questioningly, as if he couldn’t figure out why Lily didn’t want to meet with him. She rolled her eyes and started writing a return note, but couldn’t finish it before she heard a loud throat-clearing right above her. Lily felt the blood drain from her face.  
Baster held out his hand, and Lily meekly handed over the note she was writing. Without reading it, he scrunched it up in one hand and threw it (accurately) into the dustbin in the corner of the room.   
“I didn’t ask for notes to be taken, did I?” He said dangerously. Lily shook her head mutely. “Since you’re a repeat offender, Ms Evans, I’ll be seeing you in detention after dinner.” Lily felt herself blush red with embarrassment and shame. Really? The first day of school, and she’d already got a detention in her second-favourite subject?   
“Er, sir-“ she heard James say behind her, but was too focused on wiping the tears from her eyes.   
“Apparently everyone in this class has an issue with waiting to be called upon!” Baster raised his voice again, but James didn’t stop.  
“I threw the note at her, she was probably just telling me to stop. It’s unfair of you to punish Lily and not me.” He said loudly, and Lily’s ears pricked up at the use of her first name from James Potter’s lips. When was the last time he’d called her that?   
“You make an excellent point, Mr Potter. I’ll see you in detention as well.” Baster’s lip curled, and he stalked back to the front of the class.   
Lily gasped as she saw the word ‘Voldemort’ written in bold letters across the blackboard. Many Gryffindors and a few Slytherins in the class were looking away uncomfortably, while the others stared at it with mixed expressions of fear, excitement and curiosity on their faces. Lily set her jaw and looked at the word, reminding herself that there was a greater cause than impressing her teachers; at least they’d be learning proper defence this year.   
“Blimey.” She heard Lupin and Sirius mutter at the same time.   
“You’re probably wondering why I wrote ‘Voldemort’ on this blackboard,” Baster said gruffly, surveying the class. As he said the word, almost everyone flinched, and he nodded as if he’d proved something to himself. “That’s why. The first defence you’re going to learn in this class will be removing the pointless fear from your minds. Everyone up!”   
The class stood silently. Lily saw her reflection in one of the window panes, and someone staring at her from behind. She looked back, expecting to glare at Potter, but it was Snape who stood there, watching her- even when she met his eyes, he didn’t look away. Lily fidgeted nervously and looked down. She and Severus had never had a proper conversation about what had happened last year, even all throughout the summer when she’d kept seeing him around the neighbourhood, and although she had no desire to speak to him, it did make things tense.   
Baster had the class line up along a wall and say Voldemort together, all at once. Lily could feel the uncertainty swarming in the students around her; nobody liked saying the name, and the first few times that the class said it they were hushed and hurried to get the word out, as if they didn’t want to be the loudest, but not the quietest either. Finally, it was Sirius who said the word with confidence, startling the girl next to him. James joined him next, and the rest of their quartet, and being the most popular boys in class, they soon inspired plenty of others to start saying it loudly as well. Baster waved his fingers around as if he were a conductor, making them all chant the name until it had lost all meaning and everyone was shouting. Lily said it, but she was still struggling to understand what they were achieving. She understood the psychology behind it, but surely there were more important things to worry about, like a curriculum to follow.   
Finally, Baster told them to be quiet and return to their seats. He stood up at the front of the room again and told them to write down everything they knew about Voldemort and his rise to power. Lily was pleased; a written assessment was the perfect opportunity to prove that she wasn’t a troublemaker, and she’d done research on the dark lord in fifth year, so she felt prepared. 

Twenty minutes later, Lily had written a full-length essay about Voldemort, making sure to use his name whenever possible to further convince Baster that she was meant to succeed in this class. The majority of the class had written a few dot-points and were doodling on their papers now, but to Lily’s surprise James stood up at the same time she did. Their eyes met for a moment, and then Lily started hurrying towards the front of the classroom. She was the model student- Potter had no right to hand his work in before hers!   
Lily hopped over several bags on her way to the front, breaking into a small jog. She glanced over and saw to her horror that Potter was doing the same, obviously wanting to get his work to Baster before she did. Making sure that Baster wasn’t looking, Lily sneakily cast a temporary barrier spell right in front of James and he slammed into it with a loud groan. Lily smiled and jumped over the final book-bag, handing her neatly-written essay in to Baster. A moment later, James appeared next to her, looking moody.   
“Ah, my two least favourite students.” Baster said rudely, taking their individual scrolls and looking them up and down. Lily’s mouth fell open when she saw that James had also written an essay, and it appeared to even be a paragraph longer than hers! Surely he couldn’t have pulled something better together in the same amount of time!  
She gave him a furious glare, which he answered with a shrug. Lily was just about to punch his arm when Baster spoke again. “Attempting to make up for your mistakes, I see.” He said. James and Lily both winced at the same time. Baster looked at them for a minute, then cleared his throat. “Even if I don’t approve of suck-ups, these are… acceptable essays. You: don’t try so bloody hard next time,” He said, looking directly at Lily. She felt her face get hot- the essay was much better than whatever the rest of the students were turning in. “And Potter- did you not learn to write neatly in kindergarten, or shall we have some private lessons?”   
Lily heard Sirius sniggering behind them, while James smiled broadly. “I did, sir, but it never seemed very important- you can obviously read it, can’t you? It can’t be too bad.” Lily looked at him in shock; how could he dare to speak to a teacher like that, especially one as tempestuous as Baster?   
“Barely.” Baster grunted, tossing the two scrolls onto his desk. “You can both return to your seats now.” Lily paused, then raised her hand uncertainly. James snorted at her, then went back to his desk, where he started reading a quidditch magazine from his bag. An awkward moment passed, with Lily still in front of Baster’s desk, then he noticed her and looked up. “What?” He asked.  
“Well, sir, I was just wondering what you wanted us to do? There’s still half the lesson left.” She said quietly, swallowing.   
“I told you to go back to your desk- did I not make myself clear?” Baster said, his voice gaining volume. Lily shook her head mutely, and hurried back to her seat, where she opened a book only for a minute before Baster noticed. “Evans!” He thundered, walking up to her seat and snatching the book from her hands. Lily breathed shakily, staring up at him. “Did I tell you to read?” He shouted loudly. Lily felt his hot breath on her face.   
“No, sir.” She squeaked.   
“Exactly.” He went back to his desk, and Lily looked around to see James still reading the magazine, without any kind of discomfort. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes again, and slumped back down into her seat in despair. She’d never been a teacher’s least favourite before, and it was terrible.  
The rest of the class were happy to keep relaxing, so nobody else handed in their scrolls until the end of the lesson, when Lily heaved a sigh of relief and packed her things away. Baster left the room before anyone else, slapping two pieces of paper down on Lily and James’ desks, both of which said:

Your detention will be held by Professor McGonagall, because I can’t be bothered dealing with you this evening. Get to her office by 8

Lily put her face in her hands and breathed out slowly, trying to calm herself. Professor McGonagall and Lily had always had a good teacher-student relationship, and now she’d gone and messed it up without really doing anything wrong.   
She sat and panicked in her seat for a while longer, until she thought that the last of the students had gone. Lily knew that she never looked nice when she cried, and couldn’t bear for anyone to see her like that, which was why she was so dismayed to see James still in his seat, finishing off the magazine.   
“You’re overreacting.” He said in a song-song voice, not taking his eyes off the paper. Lily pursed her lips.  
“I’m not. I don’t care about this.” Lily lied unconvincingly. This time, James did put down the magazine and looked at her. Lily couldn’t find even a trace of a smirk on his face, but she was sure that he was mocking her.   
“You’re actually upset, aren't you?” He said, as if this was a revelation to him. Lily sniffed and brushed her hands under her eyes.  
“No. And I don’t really need any jokes right now Potter, this hasn’t been a good class.” She said. “So if you’re going to mock me, make it behind my back this time? I’m sure your friends would love to hear whatever you’ve come up with.” Lily picked up her bag and started walking to the doors at the back of the classroom, but James stopped her by standing up and blocking the aisle. “Move.” Lily said, but he should his head.   
“Why is this affecting you so much, Evans? It’s just one detention.” He said quietly, making Lily look away. He wasn’t allowed to choose this as the only time when he was being nice- not when he’d ruined her chances of doing well in the class!   
“For you, maybe, but for me it’s one more thing stopping me from becoming head girl! Shit, you’re so daft, Potter!” James’ eyes widened at her language, but he didn’t say anything. “We can’t all go around making fools of ourselves and still succeed- I’m a muggle-born, which means that I have to have a perfect record to even be in with a chance of getting to be head-girl!” Lily couldn’t hold down the sob that escaped her, but she kept going in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice. “For you, it’s as simple as an endorsement from a good student like me, and you’re fine, but I won’t be! Do you know how many muggle-born head students Hogwarts has had in its entire history? Hmm?” She sniffed and glared at James through her tears, unable to see his expression. “Two! In the entire time that Hogwarts has been a school, two muggle-borns have been chosen, which doesn’t exactly put the odds in my favour! So don’t make it seem like a detention is something to worry about, because I’ve spent the last five years working harder than anyone else to become something better than what I’m meant to-“  
James stepped closer to Lily and put his arms around her, muffling her continued ranting with his jumper. After a minute, Lily’s frantic words turned into sobs, and she subconsciously leaned against the taller boy, crying quietly. She couldn’t think properly (at least, that’s what she’d tell herself later) when she put her arms around him as well, and let James rest his chin atop her head. It was comforting, in a way, and they stood there for a few minutes, but she still pulled herself off him when she stopped crying and turned away awkwardly. Why had she let herself be that vulnerable around him? Stupid, stupid.   
“I- uh, I have to go.” She mumbled, stepping around James and walking quickly up to the end of the classroom, using her sleeve to dry her face. He didn’t follow her. 

Lily had gone to the bathroom and cleaned up before she went to see her friends; she didn’t want them to know how afraid she was of James telling everyone about her pathetic panic attack, and although Lily knew, deep down, that he was better than that, she wouldn’t admit it to herself.   
Amy realised that something was wrong less than five seconds after Lily walked into the dorm, but waited until everyone had stopped chattering about the prank to pull her friend aside. “Lily? Is everything alright?”   
“Not really. I got detention.”   
“What? Oh, bollocks! But we hadn’t planned any more pranking until dinner time- we can’t have lost the bet on the first day!” Amy exclaimed.   
“It wasn’t for that. The defence against the dark arts professor hates me.” Lily flopped back on her bed, and Amy lay down next to her, her black curls fanning out over the pillows.   
“That can’t be right. You’re the biggest suck-up I’ve ever met.” Amy teased, her smile dropping when she saw Lily’s expression. “What went wrong, Lils?”   
“I spoke without being called upon. Then Potter threw a note at me, and I was writing one back to tell him to stop, but Baster caught me and got really angry.” Amy sat up, looking furious.   
“That James Potter really has it coming this time. What do you want me to do about it?” She asked, but Lily shook her head, frowning.  
“He actually kind of stood up for me- it was odd. He’s got a detention as well.” She puzzled. “Although he doesn’t seem to mind at all.”   
“He’s still a selfish prick. It’s his fault you’re in this position at all! He doesn’t understand how hard you’ve worked to make it this far, and it’s up to all of us to show him. We’re going to win this bet,” Amy stood up and crossed her arms, “And show those boys who’s the boss around here.”   
Hearing the last part of her sentence, Lucinda whooped, and everyone began to talk about the plan for that evening- except Millie, who was still reading up on dying spells. She refused to take part in the prank, but that was alright because they had the perfect amount of toads and girls to finish it off. 

Lily cast the final growing spell on the toads, making sure that they were set to grow at the same time as the others. The group went down to the great hall, where they sat in their usual spot and talked about their homework while a trio of disdainful seventh-years told them how much harder things would become.   
“-your stupid toad.” Lily’s ears perked up, and she looked around to see the marauders walking past their spot at the table, while Sirius berated Peter about his pet. “It snuck into my bag this morning, can you believe that? You need to get that thing under control, or Merlin help me I will turn it into a stick and shove it so far up your-“   
Lily turned her attention back to her table as James walked past, feeling tense. She felt his eyes on her for a moment, then that moment ended and she relaxed again.   
“Is everyone ready?” She asked in a whisper.   
“Yes.” Yep.” “Sure.” The girls said excitedly, just as the food appeared. They ate quickly, and were planning to go over to the boys when a pavlova appeared on the table and Marlene insisted that everyone try some. Lily had to admit, it was delicious, but they were getting close to the crucial seconds and they had to act fast.   
“Who’s taking who?” Amy asked, glancing at Remus and turning pink as he smiled at her. Lily noticed and grinned.  
“You take Lupin, Amy-“ She started.  
“Absolutely not.” Amy interrupted quickly, hitting Lily’s shoulder. “You take Lupin, I’ll do Black, Marlene- you take Potter and Pettigrew, and Lucinda can do the spell.” She decided, throwing a dirty look in Lily’s direction, who laughed and put some pavlova in her mouth.   
“Perfect. When they get up, we do as well, alright? We need to get the toads to them before they get into the Gryffindor common-room.” Lucinda said.   
“This is disgusting, if you ask me. Toads? Really? It’s so childish.” Millie complained, casting scornful eyes on her friends. Lily, Lucinda and Amy exchanged a look, but it was Marlene who spoke up.   
“See, the funny thing is, we didn’t.” She said firmly, then brightened up again as she looked back to Lily and Amy. “This is going to be amazing- it’s a great idea, Lils.”   
Lily smiled weakly, surprised by Marlene’s outright coldness. Even if she’d had unresolved issues with Millie in the past, she’d never really acted on it until now.   
Millie sat still, with her mouth wide open, then squeaked indignantly and picked up her plate, moving to sit with her younger brother and some other fourth-years.   
“Marlene!” Amy hissed across the table as soon as she was out of earshot, “What in the world was that?” Marlene huffed.  
“It was well-deserved, that’s what. You know, Millie isn’t the nice girl that you all know. Sometimes she can be outright spiteful.” She said, beginning to sound slightly upset. “She likes all of you- I don’t get the same special treatment.” She finished.   
“What do you mean, spiteful? Millie’s sometimes a bit insensitive, sure, but I’ve never heard her be properly mean.” Lucinda said, frowning.  
“That’s because you were never on the receiving end, Lu.” Marlene said. “Did you hear what she said in the carriage yesterday?” The girls shook their heads. “She said ‘any more pavlovas and we’ll have to roll you around’.”   
“Oh, how rude!” Lily exclaimed. Marlene took a shaky breath and shrugged.  
“I’m used to it. Little comments, made under her breath as if she doesn’t know I can hear them. I don’t care- her opinion doesn’t really mean much to me- but she’s not been a good friend and I’m tired of you people acting like this is unusual behaviour.” She said firmly, then gasped.   
“What is it?” Amy asked.   
“They aren’t at the table any longer! They must’ve gone already.” Marlene said, standing up and looking around. “Look! There goes Pettigrew.”  
“But this is more important, Marlene. We can think of another prank.” Lily said, but Marlene shook her head and started towards the back of the hall.  
“Nothing is more important to me than this. Are you coming?” She said, picking up the pace as the other three girls joined her. 

Lily, Lucinda, Marlene and Amy caught up to the boys just as they started on the stairs. “Hey! We need to talk to you.” Amy called, making them all turn around.   
Lily caught James’ eye and looked down, clearing her throat awkwardly. When she looked up again, he was looking at Amy, who was spouting some nonsense about how she didn’t believe that they’d really been getting information about flobberworms while the others discreetly took out their toads and Lucinda (who was the best at wordless magic) transferred them into the boys’ pockets, which were already so heavy with various candies and stationary that they didn’t notice the difference.   
“-and that’s why I don’t believe that flobberworms exist at all, and you’ve been spreading false information specifically for a prank that you are currently carrying out.” Amy finished breathlessly, while the marauders looked confused.   
“I think I speak for all four of us when I say that you’ve gone batty, Quick.” James said, putting his hands in his trouser pockets and raising his eyebrows. Marlene and Lucinda both giggled in unnaturally high-pitched voices, and Lily was reminded of their behaviour yesterday on the train. She wrinkled her nose.   
“Maybe. But am I just batty enough to figure this out?” Amy said hopefully, pushing a couple of pieces of hair from her face.   
“...No. You’re a lunatic- you should see Madame Pomfrey about that.” Sirius said. “Do you want to know what I think, boys?” He looked sideways at his friends.   
“Tell us, Pads.” Remus said, looking amused. Sirius looked back to the girls.   
“I think they’re all so desperate to find out what we’re planning, that they haven’t thought of a single prank of their own. You know, I think that men might just have an aptitude for this kind of thing, and women… well, less so.”   
“Careful, Evans is a raging feminist.” Potter said, looking at Lily. She built up the courage to stare back, unsure whether he was just teasing or if his comment was mean-spirited.   
“I’m not. I’m a regular feminist. And so are the rest of my friends, so if you prefer not to find out what it feels like to have four women punch you at once, I suggest you stop making generalisations. You have no idea what we’re planning.” She said clearly, putting her hand on her hip smugly and thinking about the four toads currently sitting in their pockets.   
“Four women? What happened to number five?” Lupin asked. The girls looked at each other, then all shrugged.   
“Doesn’t matter. Anyway, you debunked my flobberworm theory, so I’ll be on my way.” Amy said. “Girls?” 

It was ten-to-eight, and Lily was standing nervously outside Professor McGonagall’s office. The toads were set to start growing at half-past-nine, so she was desperately hoping that the teacher wouldn’t keep them longer than a couple of hours.   
Five more minutes went by, and Lily heard footsteps approaching. She saw James, then quickly looked away again, breathing deeply to calm herself. She didn’t want a repeat of that afternoon- ever.   
“Er… Is this where we’re supposed to be?” She heard him ask, and rolled her eyes. He knew that it was.   
“Yes.” She said.   
“Perfect.” She heard him lean back against a wall and click his tongue.   
A couple of minutes passed, and Lily got fed up with how awkward everything felt. She turned around and looked at James, crossing her arms defensively.   
“I don’t want you to tell anyone about what happened after class today.” She said firmly. James looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. Lily blinked, taken aback at how easily he’d agreed. “Oh. Okay, good.”  
“I wasn’t planning on it, either.” He said. Lily glanced up at him, then down again, shaking her head once.  
“I didn’t think so, but that’s… that’s good, thanks. It’s embarrassing- I’m sorry if I trapped you there, I wasn’t in my right mind.” She explained tentatively, tightening her ponytail. James swiped a hand through the air dismissively, as if it were no big deal to him that Lily had basically had a mental breakdown in his presence.  
“We all have those days, Evans. It’s good that you got your first one out of the way this early.” Lily forced a laugh, although she still felt awkward. She wished that James would tease her, or do something other than be nice right now. This new side to him threw her off her rhythm, and it was hard to know what to say when he was being so nice.   
“Miss Evans, Potter, please come in.” Professor McGonagall opened the door to her office and beckoned them inside. Lily closed her eyes briefly, then followed James into the room. They sat on the two chairs on one side of McGonagall’s desk, and the professor took a seat on the other. “Potter, have you already forgotten the conversation we had about your behaviour last semester?” She said, peering over the edge of her spectacles.  
James smiled sheepishly. “It must’ve slipped my mind. Did you get the letter I sent this afternoon, Professor?”   
McGonagall’s lip twitched, and she nodded. “Yes, Mr Potter, and while you make a compelling case, I cannot excuse Miss Evans from detention.” Lily looked up at James, her eyes wide. The boy himself was staring determinedly at the desk, his ears bright red.   
“Uh- e-excuse me?” Lily stammered, blinking quickly.   
McGonagall looked up. “Potter was under the impression that you didn’t deserve detention this evening, Miss Evans. Do you disagree?”   
“I…” Lily trailed off, frowning at James in confusion. “I’m not sure.”   
“You know, Professor, most people would understand that this kind of thing stays between you and me.” James said, a bit higher than he usually spoke.   
“Perhaps they would. Now, we have more important matters to discuss. Professor Baster was rather unspecific in his descriptions of your behaviour, and although Potter provided me with a detailed timeline of the events, I’d like to hear it from you as well, Miss Evans.” McGonagall looked at Lily seriously, and she gulped.   
“Well, um… we were in class with Professor Baster, and James and I were talking because we didn’t realise that he’d come in. So he got sort of angry about that. Then, later on, I…” Lily looked down, unsure whether she should dob James in or not.   
“...I threw a note at Evans, and she was just writing one back telling me to stop when Baster-“  
“Professor Baster.” McGonagall interrupted. “And I don’t believe I asked to hear your side of the story again, so you would do well to be silent.” James slumped back in his chair, looking mutinous. “Good. Now, Miss Evans, you were saying?”   
“Was I?” Lily fidgeted nervously under the table. “Um… alright, well I guess Potter is right- I was writing a note telling him not to send me any, and then Professor Baster saw it and confiscated it. Since he’d already told me off for speaking, I got detention and Potter told Professor Baster that he’d written a note too, so we both got detention.” She finished breathlessly.   
“How unusual, Potter, that you’d own up to your wrongdoings.” McGonagall commented. “Perhaps our discussion did have some effect on you, after all.”   
“Definitely.” James said, smirking a bit. Lily sighed.   
“Excuse me, Professor?” She said after a brief pause.   
“Yes?” McGonagall straightened her spectacles.   
“Uh- will this detention have any significant effect on my eligibility to be a candidate for head girl?”  
“Merlin, did you pull out a thesaurus for that one?” James teased, somehow easing the tension between them. Lily rolled her eyes.   
“Miss Evans,” McGonagall said, catching Lily’s attention again. “You would be hard-pressed to find a single student at Hogwarts who hasn’t received a detention. And, between you and myself, I don’t think that this particular grievance needs to make it onto the permanent records, do you?” Lily nearly stood up out of her seat in excitement and gratitude.   
“Oh, really! That’s just… it’s wonderful, Professor! Thank you!” She beamed, clasping her hands together. McGonagall didn’t smile, but Lily could’ve sworn that the corners of her lips twitched a little, and there was a definite twinkle in her eye.   
“Thanks, Big Mack.” James said, using the nickname he and Sirius had given McGonagall way back in third year. Lily wanted for McGonagall to tell him off, but she simply raised her eyebrows.   
“I cannot say the same for you, Potter. I find it far more likely that you actually misbehaved.” She said. Lily looked over at Potter to see how he took it, but he didn’t seem too fussed, leaning back in the chair and shrugging.   
“Well, it is what it is.” He said cheerfully. “I’ll try again next time.”   
“Hmm.” McGonagall didn’t seem convinced. “Still, I need you two to carry out your detention this evening by organising that cupboard.” She pointed at a cupboard in the corner of her office, which had a rope keeping it closed. “You’ll be permitted to leave in one hour.”   
“Organise it? Professor, if you’re tying it shut, I don’t know if we’re up for that job.” James said, dramatically widening his eyes. Lily made a sound of exasperation and stood up, pulling down her jumper.   
“Don’t be stupid, Potter. It’s easy enough.” She said. James made a face, and McGonagall left the room after muttering about retirement. 

Lily set about trying to open the cupboard, which proved to be a rather more difficult task than she’d anticipated. The moment she undid the rope, about fifty things started falling out, and she was forced to slam her entire body against the doors to keep everything from crushing her. James watched with an expression of bored amusement on his face, until Lily threatened to injure him before the next quidditch match and he got out of his seat.   
“You’re pathetic, Evans.” He commented, standing in front of the struggling girl with his arms crossed.   
“You’re acting as if your opinion means something to me.” Lily bit back, mentally listing whatever spells might hold the doors closed until she’d stepped away.   
“Hmm.” James hummed, and smirked at the look Lily gave him. “I’m not helping until you ask, you know.”   
After a moment, Lily gave in. “Fine,” she growled, “Would you mind helping me out?”   
James pointed his wand at the cupboard without speaking, and the weight on Lily’s back disappeared. “How did you do that?” She demanded, slightly more aggressively than she might’ve.   
“Magic.” James grinned. Lily, making the most of McGonagall’s absence, punched his arm. He yelled and stepped away, rubbing the pain away and giving Lily an offended look.   
“You’re an arse, Potter.” She said. “Now, open this cupboard and help me organise it.” James begrudgingly obliged, casting another non-verbal spell. “Okay,” Lily said. “You take books, and I’ll handle the rest.”   
James grunted his agreement, and they spent the next few minutes in silence as James picked up the dusty copies of Third-Year Transfiguration For Challenged Students, and Lily sorted through quills and parchment, as well as a few dead spiders. She’d always taken a secret sort of pride in the fact that she wasn’t afraid of spiders; even though one of their house’s traits was bravery, none of the other Gryffindor girls ever went near any of the spiders who crawled into their dormitory during the daytime. Lily was always tasked with collecting and removing them- she sometimes threw them up the boys stairs, just to see what would happen. Most times it was Sirius waking up the whole tower with his shrieks.   
Lily finished her neatly-organised piles and sat back on her knees with a satisfied sigh. James hadn’t offered to help her when he finished his own, instead choosing to noisily flick through the few channels he could find on McGonagall’s prized muggle radio. Lily had largely tuned out the muffled talking and static, but this became significantly more tricky when she didn’t have anything to distract her.   
He switched the channel again, and a muggle song started playing. Lily recognised it as Petunia’s tune to play when she wanted everyone to know how upset she was, and blinked quickly at the thought of her sister. They hadn’t parted on good terms- although, they never really did these days.   
Petunia had filled her desire to become magical by putting perfectly normal things in the way; when Lily’s late owl had flown away with letters to her friends, Petunia had scoffed and announced that she was going down to the post office with letters of her own. When Lily received her OWL results, Petunia had brought home her own report card from school and stuck it in front of Lily’s on the refrigerator. And she’d stopped talking to Lily, too. There wasn’t someone else to take her sister’s place, so she settled for pretending that she didn’t exist.   
Lily knew that she would write eventually- she felt too guilty, not doing it. She just dreaded the breakfasts over the next few weeks, when she’d look hopefully at the surge of mail being dropped to the students, and nothing would come. Lily was a good sister, which she knew, but she still felt awful for being who she was.   
“Ugh, this music’s terribly dreary. Don’t muggles ever listen to things which make them feel happy?” James said, interrupting Lily’s thoughts. She sniffed and stood up, going over to the radio and ignoring his curious stare.  
“Let me do it.” She said, nudging him aside and going through the channels again, taking more care than he’d been. She found another one, and a bouncy ABBA song started playing. Lily looked at the clock impatiently, seeing that they still had twenty minutes until they could leave.   
“Oh, this is marvellous!” James said excitedly, moving his shoulders oddly and stomping around the room, flailing his arms. After a second of confusion, Lily realised that he was dancing. She laughed out loud, covering her mouth at his puzzled expression. “What?” He said.   
“You’re… Well, you’re a terrible dancer, Potter.” She said bluntly. “I’ve never seen someone as bad as you.” James frowned.  
“Sirius says the same thing. I only ever learnt ballroom dancing, you know. I don’t know how to dance normally.” He pouted, and Lily giggled again. Suddenly, his face brightened, an expression which Lily recognised from every time he’d been about to play a prank on her, or when he knew the answer in class. “Teach me!” He said jovially, extending a hand.  
“What? No.” Lily said, screwing up her face.   
“Come on, Evans! It’ll be fun!” James started his weird stomping-flailing dance again, and Lily tried to hide her laugh. He grinned, and made his movements larger, almost hitting Lily on the face.   
“Fine! Fine.” She grabbed the rogue arm and ceased her laughing now that he could see her clearly. “You just need to stop... trying so hard. Look:” Lily bounced lightly from foot to foot, and watched as James did the same. “Now, you can move your arms a little, but not too wildly.” James lifted his arms straight above his head, looking offended when Lily laughed. “I said a little, James- Er, I mean, Potter.” Lily cursed herself inwardly- why did she call him that? They’d only ever been on a last-name basis.  
James didn’t comment on it, instead choosing to focus on maneuvering his arms around his body. “Merlin, this is boring. Yet again, the wizards do it better.” Lily crossed her arms and switched off the radio.  
“Well, you aren’t very good at it.” She said snarkily. “I feel sorry for whoever had to teach you ballroom dancing.”   
James turned on some other music again and crossed his arms as well. “I am an excellent dancer. That muggle rubbish wasn’t dancing.”   
“Not when you did it, at least.” Lily muttered, and James frowned and switched the channel, quickly finding some lively classical music and putting one of his hands on Lily’s waist and the other gripping hers. Lily didn’t have time to react before she was launched off her feet and into a very fast dance with him around the room. “What’re you doing?” She said breathlessly, surprised by their sudden closeness.   
“I’m showing you how good I am at dancing. Keep up, will you?” James said with a determined look on his face. Lily didn’t have to try very hard; James was so focused on his own footwork that he didn’t even realise he’d partially lifted her off the ground. Lily laughed at his concentrated expression, which deepened the lines between his eyebrows. James finally came to a stop and let Lily go. “See?” He said, puffing out his chest a bit and looking proud.  
Lily had to take a moment to catch her breath, then burst out laughing again. “Y-You are, without a doubt, the worst dancer I’ve ever met.” She giggled, holding her stomach.   
“What?” James’ chest dropped and he looked extremely put out. “My instructor said I was fast.” Lily calmed herself a bit, but couldn’t hold in the giggles at the look on his face.  
“I’m sure he did. That doesn’t mean you were good, Potter. In fact, I’m willing to bet that your parents bribed the instructor to say that you were up to standard so that you wouldn’t throw a tantrum.” Lily teased.   
James scowled for a moment, then changed his expression into a casual smirk, as if he didn’t care. Lily pressed her lips together, puzzled. She hadn’t really hurt his feelings, had she? “You’re only saying so because you think you can get to me, Evans.” James said casually. “I know that I’m a good dancer, and you’re just trying to cover up the fact that you enjoyed having my hand on your waist.”   
Lily’s eyebrows flew up indignantly, and her face went red. “I did not! I didn’t like it at all- you take that back!”   
“Oh, please. Your crush is pathetic, Evans, and I suggest you get rid of it, because it’s never going to happen.” The boy ran his hand through his hair, rolling his eyes. Lily stuck out her chin defiantly and pushed him in the chest.  
“You’re delusional. I don’t have a ‘crush’ on you: I despise you. So I agree; it’s never going to happen. In fact, if you ever coerce me into going out with you, I want you to shoot me.” She said harshly, pushing him again and becoming incensed at his grin.   
James seemed pleased at her frustration, grabbing his discarded jumper off the back of a chair and pulling it over his head. “I’ll hold you to that.” He joked, walking past Lily with his hands in his pockets.   
“Where are you going? It isn’t time to leave yet.” She said, turning and crossing her arms.   
“Desperate to spend time with me: check.” James said smugly. Lily scowled. “I’ll see you back in the dorms, teachers pet.” He turned and winked at Lily, and left the office. She heard his feet going down the first staircase and closed her eyes, pressing her lips together again out of anger and yanking her jumper down. 

Lily determinedly sat and waited for the clock to strike nine, then speedily made her way to the dorms. She was met by Amy at the fat lady, who told Lily how difficult it had been to stop the toads from escaping the room. They kept hopping back down the stairs, since the boys weren’t paying attention, and the girls had to keep watch and toss the toads back up again every time they made an appearance.   
Lucinda and Marlene were sitting on one of the sofas, keeping an eye out for rogue toads, but when Lily came in they stood up and repeated what Amy had said. Lily carefully avoided the topic of her detention when it came up, simply saying that she’d had to organise some books. She didn’t mention the dancing, and she certainly didn’t say a word about Potter’s latest teasing.   
“It’s been thirty minutes. They should start growing now.” Amy said, looking at the muggle watch Lily had given her last Christmas. The girls murmured excitedly among one another, all kneeling on the sofa and looking at the boys’ stairs.   
There was a sudden lull in the usual chatter of the common room, until suddenly an impossibly high shriek pierced the air. All the students who didn’t know what was happening blocked their ears, and another scream sounded.   
“EVACUAAAAAATE!” Someone else- Lily thought it might be Potter- yelled from the dorm, and four bodies suddenly launched themselves down the stairs, landing in a pile at the bottom. Sirius was the first to scramble to his feet, his eyes wide with terror and some ridiculous-looking silk pyjama-pants on his legs. Remus was up next, looking slightly disgruntled, and Peter and James soon followed. The marauders looked around the common rooms at the shocked faces of Gryffindor house, with James covering his naked top-half. Lily heard Marlene and Lucinda burst into giggles, although she was barely holding hers back for a different reason. Their first prank was an absolute success.   
“Er- hello, everyone. Don’t mind us.” Remus said, looking incredibly embarrassed. Sirius suddenly screamed again, pointing a shaking finger at the stairs as he jumped onto an armchair, squashing a first-year who’d been occupying it. The entire house watched in silence as a toad the size of a large cat ambled its way down the stairs, followed by a second one the same size. Lily smiled widely at her creation, catching Potter’s eye and raising an eyebrow as if to say, ‘beat that’.   
“If someone doesn’t handle this right now, I will use an unforgivable curse.” Sirius shouted from the armchair.


End file.
